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(No Model.)

0. A. GRISWOLD.

CORSET.

Patented Nov. 6, 1888.

INVENTOH,

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UNITED STATES PATENT Fries,

OATHAR'INE A. GRISWVQLD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

CORSET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 392,197, dated November 6, 1888. Application filed January 25, 1888. Serial No. 261,845. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CATHARINE A. GRIs- WOLD, of the city, county, and State of New York, a citizen of the United States, haveinvented an Improved Corset, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to corsets; and it consists. in a corset provided with stays or stiffeners, each of which has an edgewise turn or reversal of direction, and extends, one or more, from the top and bottom edges of the corset to and with the apices of corresponding stiffeners located opposedly at the waist-line, and with both extremities of each said stiffener terminating at one and the same edge of said corset-body, together with separate andindividual stays or stiifeners extending vertically of the corset alongside of the opposed apices of the said edgewise-bent stiffeners, and of such length that each reaches and extends only across and somewhat beyond the waistline, upward anddownward.therefro1n,as described, and for the purpose set forth.

The single figure in the drawing represents in side elevation a corset containing my invention.

A represents the corset-bod y.

AtB B are shown steels, bones, stays, or stiffeners, each of which has in it an edgewise turn or reversal of direction, as shown at b, consisting, preferably,in a curvated bend about midway of its length. These stiffeners B extend in or upon the corset, one or more, from the top and bottom edges to the waist-line thereof, and with one from the top corresponding to one from the bottom, and with the apices b of said corresponding stiffeners located opposedly to each other at the waistline, as shown. The extremities of each stiffener terminate substantially at or near one and the same edge of the corset, and prcferably immediately upon said edge, where they may be inclosed by the binding a.

' O O are individual and separate steels, bones, stays, or stifleners, which maybe in the form of rectilinear stiffeners, as shown, or may be given such other outline as will desirably 5o adapt them to fit flatwise in the corset to the figure or person of the wearer. These stiffeners O are arranged in or upon the corset alongside of and,as shown, adjacent to the opposed apices of the stiffeners B at the waist line, and they extend vertically of the corsetbody, and are each of such a length as to reach across and somewhat upwardly and downwardly beyond only the waist-line of the corset-body.

To accord to the essential feature of thisinvention, the upper extremity of each individual stiffener C may terminate at or about a point in line with the ends of the curve constituting the edgewisc bend in the top stiffener B, and the lower extremity may tcrmi nate at or about a point in line with the ends of the curve constituting the edgewise bend in the bottom stiffener, as shown in the draw-. 1ng.

It is preferable, and is a feature of this in vention, to have the edgewise-bent stiffeners B extend in aseries along and from the top edge of the corset and in a series along and from the bottom edge thereof, with the apices of corresponding stiffeners located opposedly to each other at the waist-line, and in conjunction therewith to have the short separate and individual stiffeners 0 arranged along the waist-line extending vertically of the corsetbody, as specified, and located intermediate the pairs of the opposed apices of the stiffcners B, as shown in the drawing.

It is evident that in a corset fabricated according to this invention, while the use of the bent stifleners B, arranged as described, avoids .the employment of stays extending continuously from top to bottom of the corset-body across the waist-line, and the consequent annoyance and discomfort caused to. the wearer by the breaking of such stays at the waist-line, the corset is by the described short individual waist-line stiffencrs given a desirable stiffness at the waist-line adjacent to the opposed apices of the bent stifl'eners to support the person of the wearer at this point; and it is also evident that while the person of the wearer is by means of the stiffeners B, arranged as described, afforded freedom of movement at the waistline, the liability of the short stiffeners G, ex tending across the waist-line, to fracture at the waist-line is reduced to a minimum, the stiffeners B serving to sustain most of the strain caused by the movement of the body of the wearer, and the extent of the stilfeners 0 above and below the waist-line being so limited as to receive but little, if any, strain due to such movement.

The described stiffeners may be seated in correspondingly-shaped pockets constituted in and by the material of the corset-body it self by means of rows of stitching passing through the double thicknesses of such material; or they may be applied and secured to the surface of the corset as an overlay.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A corset provided with stays, each having an edgewise turn or reversal of direction, and extending, one or more, from the top and bottom edges of the corset to and with the apices of corresponding stifieners located opposcdly at the waistline, and with both extremities of each said stiffener terminating at one and the same edge of the corset-body, together with individual and separate stays extending vertically of the said corset-body alongside 01' the opposed apices of the edgewise-bent stift'eners at the waist-line, and ofa length that adapts each to reach or extend across and only somewhat beyond the waistline upwardly and downwardly of the corset, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. A corset provided with stays, each having an edgewise turn or reversal of direction, and extending along and from the top and bottom edges of the corset in a series from each, with the apices of the corresponding stiffeners of each series located opposedly to each other at and along the waist-line, and with both extremities of each stiffener terminating at one and the same edge of the corset, together with individual and separate stays extending vertically thereof in series along the waist-line and located intermediate the pairs of opposed apices of the edgewise-bent stiffeners, and of a length that adapts each to reach or extend across and only somewhat be yond the waist-line, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

GATHARINE A. GRIS\VOLD.

Witnesses:

J OHN J. ENNIS, JAMES MOINTYRE. 

